Frozen Fever
Frozen Fever is a 2015 American computer-animated short film directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. It is a sequel to the 2013 Walt Disney Animation Studios film Frozen, and stars Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, and Josh Gad. The film debuted in theaters alongside Walt Disney Pictures' Cinderella on March 13, 2015. Contents *1 Plot *2 Cast *3 Production *4 Reception *5 References *6 External links Plot It's Anna's birthday and Elsa plans to throw her the perfect surprise party with the help of Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf. However, after planning the huge party and as Anna is being led on a "party treasure hunt," by following a string that winds through the kingdom, Elsa finds that she has caught a cold. She starts sneezing and unknowingly produces a group of small snowmen much like Olaf with each sneeze, who proceed to wreak havoc with the birthday party's decorations, much to Kristoff and Olaf's chagrin as they have been left by Elsa to watch the birthday decorations to make sure Anna's birthday is perfect. While Elsa takes Anna on the hunt the two try to get the little snowmen under wraps and fix back the decorations in time for Anna and Elsa's return to the palace. After some near misses, Elsa collapses and nearly falls off the clocktower. Finally, Anna manages to convince Elsa to let her lead her to bed and take care of her. They come back to the courtyard where the party has been arranged just in time as Kristoff and Olaf have finally managed to get the little snowmen under control and the party fixed. It is a big hit with Anna, but Elsa accidentally sneezes a giant snowball through a birthday bugle horn,[3] cannon-balling it all the way to The Southern Isles, where Hans is serving punishment for his actions in the first film by scooping horse manure. The snowball crushes him against the wagon of manure much to the amusement of the nearby horses. Meanwhile, Elsa rests in bed while Anna takes care of her with Anna saying to Elsa that allowing her the chance to take care of her was the best birthday present of them all. Olaf takes the tiny snowmen under his wing and brings them to Elsa's ice castle with the help of Kristoff and Sven, where they stay with a disconcerted Marshmallow. Cast *Kristen Bell as Anna[4] *Idina Menzel as Elsa[4] *Jonathan Groff as Kristoff[4] *Josh Gad as Olaf[4] *Chris Williams as Oaken[5] *Santino Fontana as Hans[6] *Paul Briggs as Marshmallow[7] Non-speaking characters include Sven, Kristoff's reindeer companion, and the Snowgies, the tiny snowmen.[8] Production On September 2, 2014, during the ABC airing of The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic, Walt Disney Animation Studios' chief creative officer John Lasseter announced that a Frozen short film with a new song would be released in the future.[9] On the same day, Variety announced that the short would be released in early 2015 under the title Frozen Fever, with Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee returning as co-directors, Peter Del Vecho returning as producer and a new song by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The summary of the short is as follows: "...it's Anna's birthday and Elsa and Kristoff are determined to give her the best celebration ever, but Elsa's icy powers may put more than just the party at risk." Olaf the snowman would also make an appearance in the short.[10][11][12] In a mid-October interview, Idina Menzel revealed that the cast had already recorded their vocal tracks, stating "We just worked on a short for Frozen."[13] On December 3, 2014, it was announced that Aimee Scribner would be a co-producer and that Frozen Fever would debut in theaters alongside Walt Disney Pictures' Cinderella on March 13, 2015.[4][14] In late December, the co-directors told the Associated Press "There is something magic about these characters and this cast and this music. Hopefully, the audiences will enjoy the short we're doing, but we felt it again. It was really fun."[15] Around the same time, Dave Metzger, who worked on the orchestration for Frozen, disclosed he was already at work on Frozen Fever.[16] The short features the song "Making Today a Perfect Day", by Anderson-Lopez and Lopez.[17] At the premiere of Cinderella and Frozen Fever at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 1, 2015, Josh Gad told USA Today, "I want to apologize to parents everywhere for the fact that children are going to be singing a whole new Frozen song."[18] Gad's wife noticed he was still humming it two days after he recorded his lines.[18] In March 2015, the directors revealed that Walt Disney Animation Studios had brought up the possibility of creating a short film in April 2014.[19] Buck and Lee were initially reluctant because they were still trying to determine why Frozen had been such a success, but agreed to start brainstorming possibilities.[19] After early discussions about Olaf, head story artist Marc Smith pitched the idea of what might happen if Elsa had a cold, which became the basis for the short's plot.[19] The production of Frozen Fever took approximately six months, according to Buck.[20] The directors began working on the short in June and by August were back in the recording studio with the cast to lay down vocal tracks.[21] Naturally, all the animators from Frozen wanted to come back to animate at least one shot on Frozen Fever, so it has a large number of animator credits for a short film.[21] The tricky part was to squeeze the animation phase of the short's production into a tight time slot in fall 2014 after animation wrapped on Big Hero 6 and before the studio's animators had to start working on subsequent features (i.e., Zootopia).[21] The short was rendered using Hyperion, the new rendering system developed by Walt Disney Animation Studios for Big Hero 6.[22] Reception USA Today‍ 's Claudia Puig rated the short three stars out of four and described the new song ("Making Today a Perfect Day") as "pleasant".[17] She concluded that although the short "is not as exhilarating and inventive as the original, it's still a treat to see an abridged tale of these two sisters in a warmhearted spinoff."[17] Natalie Jamieson, writing for Newsbeat, called the new song "catchy and fun".[23] Ket Smith of The Hollywood News said that "Children will love" the effects of Elsa's sneezes, but felt that "Making Today a Perfect Day" is "not quite as catchy as" "Let It Go".[24] References #"'Frozen Fever' to Feature Music by Christophe Beck". Film Music Reporter. February 6, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015. #Hill, Jim (September 17, 2014). "Disney Looks to Avoid the Mistakes That It Made With 'The Little Mermaid' as It Expands Its 'Frozen' Empire". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 6, 2014. #"The "Making Today a Perfect Day" Lyrics from Frozen Fever". Disney Playlist. March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015. Because the original "bukkehorn" turned into a huge alphorn in the film. #Ford, Rebecca (December 3, 2014). "'Frozen' Short Film to Screen in Front of Disney's 'Cinderella'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 3, 2014. #Nemiroff, Perri (February 25, 2015). "First Frozen Fever Footage Brings Back Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and More". Collider. Retrieved March 14, 2015. #Lee, Michael (March 12, 2015). "‘Cinderella’ Review". movieviral. Retrieved March 14, 2015. #Guzman, René (March 13, 2015). "S.A.’s Disney artist returns to ‘Frozen’ world (updated)". mysanantonio.com. Retrieved March 14, 2015. #Doty, Meriah (March 10, 2015). "Get the Story Behind the New Mini-Snowmen in 'Frozen Fever'". yahoo.com/movies. Retrieved March 16, 2015. #Butler, Karen (September 2, 2014). "'Frozen' characters to return for a new short film, says Disney". United Press International. Retrieved September 3, 2014. #Graser, Marc (September 2, 2014). "'Frozen' Characters to Return in 'Frozen Fever' Animated Short". Variety. Retrieved September 2, 2014. #Zakarin, Jordan (September 2, 2014). "Disney's New 'Frozen' Short Film Will Premiere in Spring 2015". TheWrap. Retrieved September 3, 2014. #Breznican, Anthony (September 2, 2014). "'Frozen Fever': Disney to bring back Elsa and Anna for animated short". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 3, 2014. #Feeney, Nolan (October 14, 2014). "Idina Menzel Doesn't Understand Why Her Christmas Album Is Out in October". Time. Retrieved October 15, 2014. #Graser, Marc (December 3, 2014). "'Frozen Fever' Short to Debut in Front of Disney's 'Cinderella'". Variety. Retrieved December 3, 2014. #Kennedy, Mark (December 23, 2014). "'Frozen' Is Named Top Entertainer of the Year by AP". Associated Press (New York). Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2014. #Stabler, David (December 24, 2014). "'Frozen' arranger working on sequel, 'Frozen Fever'". The Oregonian. Retrieved January 2, 2015. #Puig, Claudia (February 28, 2015). "'Frozen Fever' will warm kids' hearts". USA Today. Retrieved March 2, 2015. #Alexander, Bryan (March 2, 2015). "Josh Gad apologizes to parents for unleashing new Frozen song". USA Today. Retrieved March 3, 2015. #Wieselman, Jarett (March 6, 2015). "Why The Filmmakers Were Scared To Make More "Frozen"". BuzzFeed. Retrieved March 7, 2015. #Tanswell, Adam. "Frozen Fever - Behind the Magic!". National Geographic Kids. Retrieved March 29, 2015. #Taylor, Drew (March 11, 2015). "'Frozen Fever' Is a 'Thank You' to Fans, Say Directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck". Moviefone (Whalerock Industries). Retrieved March 14, 2015. #Miller, Daniel (February 20, 2015). "Software behind 'Big Hero 6' pushes envelope on computer animation". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2015. #Jamieson, Natalie (March 2, 2015). "Frozen Fever: Seven things we learnt from its seven minutes". Newsbeat (BBC). Retrieved March 3, 2015. #Smith, K. (March 21, 2015). "Frozen Fever Review". The Hollywood News. Retrieved March 21, 2015.